Mom showers Houston with healing hugs

A week after Hurricane Harvey exacted its wrath, Shameka Carter stood near the entrance of a Houston grocery store, palms up, arms extended, giving hugs. Because Houston is hurting - and so is she. http://kare11.tv/2iSOZTX

HOUSTON, Texas – A week after Hurricane Harvey exacted its wrath, Shameka Carter decided Houston needed a hug. So, this weekend, she gave it one.

Both Friday and Saturday Carter stood near the entrance of the Summerwood H-E-B grocery store, palms up, arms extended, as Texan after Texan retreated into the comfort of her warm embrace.

“So many people need it,” Carter said. “The hurricane, it just devastated a lot of lives.”

Carter covered her eyes with a cloth while administering her Harvey hugs. “Love is blind,” she said. “They don’t know me, and I don’t know them, it’s just an amazing act of God, is how I feel.”

Carter pitched her free hugs on a handwritten sign propped nearby. A store manager added a second “free hugs” message on a small chalk board, reasoning that a hug might do some of his customers some good.